The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 742 Li Shimin's concerns
Although Li Shimin was defending Hou Junji, he felt depressed. Quan Wanji's words were flawless. Once Haitang returned home and told Hou Junji about Cheng Yunliang, as soon as Cheng Yunliang entered the palace, Hou Junji's embezzlement of public funds would no longer be hidden.

Not only will he be unable to protect himself, but he will also have to give up on the marriage with the royal family!
Under this circumstance, it is normal for Hou Junji to take risks and ambush the enemy halfway. The Hou Mansion is about to marry the prince. If they take a step forward, they will have a bright future, but if they take a step back, they will fall into an abyss. Hou Junji cannot just sit back and watch.

Moreover, he happened to appear at the scene just after the assassination was completed, and later witnessed the assassins "shutting up", which is very suspicious.
"Your Majesty, I don't know why the Prince of Shu concealed the truth for Hou Junji, but when the Prince of Shu returned home injured that day, he was very angry. He told me in person that those assassins were sent by Hou Junji. At the scene, Hou Junji himself admitted this and even threatened me."

Li Shimin's eyes turned cold: "Oh, what did Hou Junji say?"

"Hou Junji told the Prince of Shu at that time that he had fought in wars all his life, and his wife and children were all killed, with only Haitang as his only child. If anyone dared to take advantage of his daughter, no matter who he was, no matter how noble his status was, or how deep his background was, he, Hou Junji, would take revenge on him even if he risked his life."

"Before leaving, Hou Junji threatened the Prince of Shu, saying that the Prince was really lucky. If those barbarians had smeared poison on the arrows, especially wolf poison that kills instantly when it comes into contact with blood, the Prince would have lost an arm even if he didn't die."

Quan Wanji also came to his senses. He knew that as the Prince of Shu's man, everything he had just said was very unfavorable to the Prince of Shu and would easily make people doubt his position.

Therefore, if he attacked Hou Junji to death, he could clear himself of suspicion that he was loyal to the prince. Hou Junji was the prince's die-hard supporter, and attacking him was attacking the prince. If he attacked both sides, it would be easier for the emperor to believe his position.

Although the possibility of exposing his feelings for the prince was small, Quan Wanji would rather be cautious.

Moreover, the more big shots he involves himself with, the more wary the emperor will be. If he is picked up heavily and put down lightly, it will be easier for an insignificant little person like him to get away.

Sure enough, when Li Shimin heard this, his brows furrowed and he fell into deep thought.

He and Hou Junji had fought side by side for more than ten years, and Hou Junji had always been loyal to him and served him at all times. After the Li family started their rebellion, Hou Junji stood by his side without hesitation, became his vanguard general, and made countless military achievements.

When they were at Xuanwu Gate, Hou Junji was also his most staunch supporter. He had more seniority than Yuchi Jingde, and his loyalty was even greater than that of Li Jing and Cheng Zhijie.

He also felt deeply moved that Hou Junji had his wife killed and his son died in battle for his sake, leaving him with only one daughter, so he arranged the marriage between the two families. This meant that as long as he was alive, the Hou family and the Li family would be inseparable.

Hou Junji is like a scarred lone wolf, with Haitang as his only bloodline.

It is conceivable how much he values ​​his daughter. It would be the same if it were himself. Although he has so many children, he only loves Shufei's daughter Ankang.

No matter who touches Ankang, I will fight to the death with that person.

Li Ke was really a young and inexperienced person who was not afraid of tigers. Not only did he attack Hou Junji, he even tried to touch Haitang. Hou Junji didn't kill him because he was doing it for his face.

No wonder I always felt that this assassination was a bit strange. Since the assassin was going to assassinate Li Ke, why didn’t the assassin even know Li Ke and rushed towards the person sitting in the carriage? Moreover, generally, such assassins would do anything to ensure success.

It is normal practice to apply poison on arrows, and it would be abnormal if you don't.

So that's how it was. There were so many hidden secrets behind a seemingly ordinary assassination case. After Cheng Yunliang's death, Li Ke had no evidence and naturally didn't dare to provoke again. In addition, Hou Junji's desperate attitude probably frightened Li Ke.

Under such circumstances, Li Ke's plan to target Haitang failed. If he revealed the inside story, both Hou Junji and the prince would be offended. All the civil and military officials in the court would despise such behavior. After thinking it over, Li Ke chose to give in temporarily and end this incident.

The reason why Hou Junji did not do anything extreme was that he did not want to affect his daughter's marriage. After killing Cheng Yunliang and threatening Li Ke, they tacitly agreed not to create any more trouble, so he, the emperor, was kept in the dark.

Li Shimin paced back and forth in the room angrily. First, he was angry that such a big thing happened, and the people below were fighting like this, but he, the emperor, didn't even know about it. Then when they gathered the army to fight, could they ignore his existence?

The second reason was that he was angry that Li Ke was so ignorant that he repeatedly provoked Hou Junji, a senior military commander. Did he really think that Hou Junji was a vegetarian? The chaotic world had just ended, and these people had just come down from the battlefield, and their blades were still dripping with blood?
When they really went crazy, they even dared to attack the imperial palace. In their eyes, the emperor's head was made of flesh and blood. The imperial power could not withstand the steel knife in their hands. The last emperor who attacked civil officials and military generals without restraint had been strangled to death in Jiangdu. Who wouldn't be afraid of the lessons learned from the past?
These brave generals are accustomed to the changes of dynasties and do not take the current Tang Dynasty too seriously. During the period before Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty, the strength was not much stronger than it is now. Envoys from more than a dozen surrounding countries and forces came to pay homage, and the Khan of the Turks required Emperor Wen of Sui Dynasty to issue an edict to enthrone him.

At that time, there were many civil officials and military generals, and the country was very strong.

But it collapsed after only two generations and was replaced by the Tang Dynasty. Who knows how long the Tang Dynasty could last?
In this situation, even if he was facing those military commanders who held military power, he had to be careful and appease them. However, Li Ke was a young boy who didn't know how high the sky was and how deep the earth was. He took a letter from Cheng Yunliang and made a report, even though he had clearly rejected it.

However, he was unwilling to give up, so he executed the man first and reported to the emperor later. He instigated Wei Zheng and actually led troops to search Hou Junji's mansion.

You have to know that Hou Junji is not just one person. He represents a large number of military generals with similar backgrounds and experiences. As a duke of the court and the general of the right guard, he has such a close relationship with the emperor, but he was bullied to such an extent by a junior like Li Ke.

Not only did the generals from the Qin Palace have objections, but the generals from other factions were also secretly dissatisfied.

Everyone has led troops for many years, fought in swords and blood, and rolled in piles of corpses many times. Hou Junji lost his entire family for the Tang Dynasty. So what if he was greedy for money? What's more, it was captured on the battlefield, not taken from the court's public treasury by drinking the blood of soldiers.

You, Li Ke, a young boy who became a prince because of your father's influence, dislike us so much and want to beat us to death whenever you get the chance. Without people like us who sacrificed their lives and shed their blood, what qualifications would you have to become a prince and enjoy the wealth and glory and superiority you have now?

It's not that Li Shimin didn't believe Hou Junji's embezzlement of one million public funds, nor that he couldn't investigate it clearly, but that he simply didn't want to care about it.

The Tang Dynasty had just emerged from troubled times and had been established not long ago. There was a large group of arrogant and powerful generals. In addition, the Turks invaded the border every year, threatening the security of the Tang Dynasty from time to time. The court had to rely on these people to resist foreign invaders and defend the country.

It was common for generals to embezzle captured spoils. Li Shimin rose through the ranks from a general, so how could he not know this?
It was precisely because the court had repeatedly impeached the military for corruption but it was suppressed by Li Shimin that Wei Zheng had concerns. As an old minister, Wei Zheng knew the seriousness of the matter and knew the dilemma of Li Shimin.

Li Ke was a young and inexperienced man, and he had no idea of ​​the seriousness of the situation. He thought that the emperor could do whatever he wanted and punish criminal ministers at will. After he had completed all the previous tasks, he found Wei Zheng and forced the situation into a corner.

Moreover, Hou Junji embezzled one million strings of cash in one go, which was a huge number. Wei Zheng also wanted to make an example of him to scare the monkeys and deter the generals in the court from being corrupt, so that they would be more restrained and not be so arrogant.

So the two of them hit it off immediately and directly bypassed the emperor and raided Hou Junji's house.

However, Wei Zheng was a civil servant, and he might not be able to measure the pros and cons and the impact behind this matter. In fact, this matter was very dangerous, because Li Ke touched the overall interests of the entire military system, which was likely to cause a backlash from the generals.

Of course, if the evidence was conclusive, they would not have used Hou Junji's corruption as an example. However, in the upcoming Battle of Dingxiang, if these generals had a negative attitude and did not work hard, Li Shimin would be in big trouble.

Li Ke's move directly put Li Shimin on the fire. In fact, the evidence was not difficult to find. Just as Cen Wenben said, a melon as big as one million can be found as long as you want to. Such a fortune must have a place to stay.

What's more, Dou's Fuyuansheng was right there, and they were trustworthy. If the emperor wanted to investigate, they would not dare to hide it. They would never reveal any secrets of their customers, not including the emperor, even if they died.

But if Li Shimin really found evidence, it would not only be a huge scandal, but also the whole family of Yilu Hou Junji would be in danger. If he was really killed, the rabbit would die and the foxes would mourn, and the generals would unite to fight against the court, which would be the real crisis.

Even if Li Shimin faced such a thing, he did not dare to investigate it further and had to protect Hou Junji. Otherwise, if the generals thought that Li Shimin wanted to abandon Hou Junji after he had served his purpose, just like Emperor Gaozu of Han, the problem would be even more serious.

But if you don't kill him, where is the prestige of the court, where is the law and military discipline? If you don't deal with the embezzlement of millions of public funds, then the law will be just a piece of waste paper in the eyes of the subjects, and the bad impact on the court will be extremely serious.

Li Shimin was fully aware of the importance of the situation, as he had no choice but to make the right decision. If he mishandled it, it would be a catastrophic disaster.

(End of this chapter)